Privacy Policy

Staffordshire University Students’ Union, are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy, and being transparent about how we use it. This Policy explains specifically when and why we collect personal information in relation to our Lettings Services (Greenpad), how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure. We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you’re agreeing to be bound by this Policy. Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to union@staffs.ac.uk or by writing to:

President, Staffordshire University Students Union, College Road, Stoke on Trent, ST4 2DE.

Alternatively, you can telephone 01782 294629.

Who are we?

Staffordshire University Students Union (the Union) is the representative body of the students of Staffordshire University. We are a registered charity (no 117330) and operate a wholly owned trading subsidiary, Staffordshire Students Union Enterprises ltd (company number 09849741), trading as “Greenpad”. The registered address for both organisations is Staffordshire University Students Union, College Road Stoke on Trent, ST4 2DE.

How do we collect information from you?

When an enquiry is made about finding a property or tenancy, we will take initial details from the prospective tenant or landlord about their requirements, their contact details and in the case of students their year of study and ask for consent to contact them about potential properties.

Where a suitable property is found then we will request additional information, for the pre-tenancy agreement to meet statutory legal requirements of “Right to Rent”, and where appropriate, guarantor details.

What type of information is collected from you?

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, course, email address, telephone number. When entering into a tenancy agreement, then additional information would be requested to fulfil the contract, such as home address, next of kin, guarantor contact details and authority, proof of identity such as passport and National Insurance numbers and bank details

How is your information used?

We may use your information to:

Provide information on suitable properties

To carry out our obligations arising from any service agreements entered into by you and us;

Seek your views or comments on the services we provide;

Notify you of changes to our services;

Send you communications that may be of interest to you (and you haven’t asked us not to send). These may include information about campaigns, guidance, promotions of our associated companies, goods and services;

Provide a reference for future tenancies.

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations, such as Right to Rent, as well as comply with the standards of The Property Ombudsmen and Deposit Protection Scheme.
We will hold your personal information on our systems for only as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

Who has access to your information?

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Controllers in Common:

Where we are managing a tenancy on behalf of a landlord, then we will need to provide the landlord with the details of the tenants in their property in order for them to deliver the accommodation contract . This will include the tenants’ names, contact details, guarantor details, proof of “right to rent” and student status (for council tax exemption).

Part of our contract with the landlord is that we expect them to manage this data securely in line with data protection law, and for the sole purpose of providing the tenancy contract.

Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf:
We may pass your information to our third party service providers, agents, subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example to process transactions, complete Guarantor Checks, manage our mailings or to undertake repairs or maintenance on the property).

However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes.

When you are using our secure online payment pages, your transaction is processed by a third-party payment processor, who specialises in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. If you have any questions regarding secure transactions, please contact us.

Your choices

You have a choice as to whether or not to use the services of Greenpad, and whether and how you wish to receive information about suitable properties and housing advice.

By entering into a tenancy agreement through Greenpad you are consenting to the use of the data provided to be used and retained for the fulfilment of that agreement, and associated services.

How you can access and update your information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. However, if you find there are any errors on your profile, then you can contact us directly to advise us and have it corrected, by emailing union@staffs.ac.uk.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information the Union about you and can do so by emailing Union@staffs.ac.uk.

How is my data protected

Security precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Any sensitive information (such as credit or debit card details) is encrypted and protected with 128 Bit encryption on SSL. When you are on a secure page, a lock icon will appear on the title bar of browsers such as Chrome, Edge or Internet Explorer.

Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Profiling

We undertake no automatic decision making using the data you have provided.

We may analyse member data to track trends and develop insight to shape our service or to measure impact. Where we do this, we will “pseudonomise” the data, which means we separate transactions or behaviour from the data that would identify an individual person.

Use of ‘cookies’ and “tokens”

Like many other websites, the Union and its subsidiary uses cookies. ‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, we use cookies to store your country preference. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service.

It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. For more information on how to switch off cookies on your computer, visit our full cookies policy. Turning cookies of may result in a loss of functionality when using our website.

Links to other websites

Our websites may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.

16 or Under

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

Transferring your information outside of Europe

In line with GDPR requirements, we do not store or transfer your data outside of the European Union.

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.

Website recording

Our web site may use “user experience” and “analytics” software from time to time. These may record mouse clicks, mouse movements, page scrolling and progression and any text keyed into website forms. The information does not include bank details or any sensitive personal data. Data collected in this way is for the Union’s internal use only. The information collected is used to improve our website usability and is stored and used for aggregated and statistical reporting.